Chocolate Chip Cookies

Really does the world need another chocolate chip cookie recipe? It doesn’t if you like the traditional Toll House Chocolate Chip cookie which I think tastes awful and the cookies look bad too! There you have it, I insulted an American staple!!

Well let me give you a little bit of background information: We (Germans) don’t really eat Chocolate Chip cookies in Germany. Cookies are not a go to dessert for satisfying your sweet tooth, we are more a cake, pastry and pudding nation I would say. Afternoon cake and pastries are much bigger than cookies (only at Christmas cookies steal the dessert show). So I never grew up on chocolate chip cookies and hence don’t really share the enthusiasm about a Toll House Chocolate Chip cookie.

I do though share enthusiasm about chocolate – a lot of enthusiasm – so for years now I am on the look out for the ultimate chocolate chip cookie because the idea of a quick cookie fix always sounded really good to me and I think I finally found a version that even I like. I am not really sure you can call it a cookie, its more a mount of melted chocolate that barely gets contained by some cookie dough around it. So if you break this cookie apart right when it comes out of the oven, you will have chocolate oozing out of your cookie, its advised to let the cookie cool down for 5 minutes and then you will still end up with puddles of oozing chocolate on your shirt, plate, napkin and face – just the way I like it – chocolate everywhere!

If you are not as crazy about oozing chocolate as me and want to stick to a more traditional recipe, just use 1/2 to 3/4 of the chocolate and the full amount of gutter in the below recipe.

And if you like somewhat thicker and not spread out flat cookies – I hate the look of flat cookies – form the dough into round balls, or scoop it with an ice cream scooper on to the baking sheet, that seems to help with the cookies not flattening out right away. I thought the dough always needs to be chilled overnight, but honestly who plans their cookies 24 hours in advance? And this recipe baked up nicely without chilling. You can though freeze the dough and bake it almost right out of the freezer with the same results, so really a great recipe.

Last but not least, this recipe is from the blog “Not without Salt” and I altered it a little bit by chopping a chocolate bar into small pieces instead of using chocolate chips. I thought it gave it a much better taste than the waxy chocolate chips that are available in the supermarket and I also used a little bit less butter than in the original recipe and that also helped with the cookies not spreading so much.

Here is a really interesting link that pretty much goes into the science why every little thing in a chocolate chip cookie matters and how it affects the outcome of the cookie. So if you don’t like this recipe you can go to this link and pretty much put together your own cookie recipe (spread or tall cookie, crisper or moister cookie, chewy or cakey cookie …you get the concept). http://sweets.seriouseats.com/2013/12/the-food-lab-the-best-chocolate-chip-cookies.html

The most chocolaty chocolate chip cookies:

Ingredients (for a ton of cookies – at least 20 or so, but you can easily half the recipe):

2 sticks butter (8 oz) (I only used 1,5 sticks butter)

1/4 cup white sugar (2 oz )

1/4 cup Turbinado sugar (2 oz )

1 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed (12 oz )

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla (1/4 oz)

3 1/2 cup All Purpose flour (1 lb. )

1 1/2 tsp Baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1 lb. chocolate (use the best quality chocolate you can afford. With a serrated knife cut chocolate chunks roughly 1/2 inch, I like the big blocks of Trader Joe chocolate)

1/2 teaspoon good quality salt, for sprinkling on top before baking

Directions:

Cream the butter and the sugars until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes on medium high. Scrape down the side of the bowl. Continue mixing while adding the eggs one at time. Make sure each egg is incorporated before adding the next. Add the vanilla. Scrape down the bowl with a spatula. Combine the flour, soda and salt in another bowl. With a whisk to combine. With the machine on low, slowly add the flour. Mix until just combined, taking care not to over mix. With a spatula fold in the chocolate.

If you so choose, and I do recommend that you do, sprinkle a very fine dusting of good quality sea salt. Fleur de Sel or Murray River Pink Salt are my recommendations.

Bake at 360* for 10-12 minutes (depending on how big you make the cookies). They should be lightly golden on the outside but still look gooey on the inside.

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3 thoughts on “Chocolate Chip Cookies”

I just finished reading the Serious Eats article and, wow, how useful (and a bit overwhelming!) 🙂 Your cookies sound incredible…especially with a whole pound of chocolate! I have a lot to think about now…

Well put – useful but overwhelming – that’s how I felt when I read it but then when I closed the webside I though I need to retain this information somewhere for a day where I have lots of time and want to investigate deeper! The recipe I provided makes a LOT of cookies but you are right a whole pound of chocolate is just pure awesomeness!